Know How to Enroll in the Office Insider Program If You Are Using Office 365 Enterprise

Similar to Windows 10, Microsoft proposes an Insider program for the Office suite. This enables the subscribed users to avail upcoming enhancements and features. The point to be noted is, even though the desktop Office 2016 programs are almost same in the virtual environment, the method to enroll in the Office insider program will vary according to the plan a user is using.

In case of Office 365 Home, Personal, or University subscription, signing up for insider program is an easy procedure. This only requires a few clicks to use the app settings. But, the problem arises when a user works in an organization or is Microsoft MVP with Office 365 enterprise license. In this scenario, an option to sign for insider program will not be available in the installation.

In order to sign for and install the latest builds, there is a need to use “Office Deployment Tool”. This will equip the user to install Office 2016 insider guilds.

Step-Wise Procedure to Install Office 365 Preview Builds

If a user has subscribed commercially for Office 365, he/she can enroll for insider program using these steps:

Note: Before proceeding to the set of instructions, you have to uninstall any other version of Office 365 already present in the computer. This can be done by navigating to Settings option >> Apps >> Apps & Features. Choose the desired Office installation and select the option of Uninstall.

1. Double-click on Office 2016 Deployment Tool from the Microsoft

2. Then, double-click on OfficeDeploymentToolexe file

3. Browse and choose a location to retrieve setup.exe and configuration.xml file on the local system

4. Open the folder where you have extracted the files

5. With the help of any text editor, execute the configuration.xml file

The above steps will install the 32-bit version of Office 365 ProPlus. This will enroll your copy in the InsiderFast application which will provide new features and services as they will be available for testing. If you want to check the features at a slower rate, change the value of Channel to InsiderSlow or FirstReleaseCurrent

If it is needed to install the 64-bit version, do not forget to change the value of OfficeClientEdition to 64. Also, if you have subscribed for Office 365 Business premium or Office 365 Business, modify the value of Product ID to O365BusinessRetail

8. Save this file with a new configuration

9. Open Start

10. Type Command Prompt for searching, right-click on the topmost result found, and choose the option of Run as administrator

11. Go to the location where you have stored the installation files by using the cd command as,

cd %HOMEPATH%\Downloads\Office2016\

12. Now, run the below-written command to begin the installation with the help of the configuration file:

Setup.exe /configure configuration.xml

Once all the steps are complete, the setup procedure will be downloaded and the version of Office which is specified in the configuration file will be installed.

13. To make sure that the copy of the file is signed up in Office insider application, open MS Word (log in with your subscription account as needed), navigate to File, then to Account section under Product Information, Office insider should be present.

14. If you want to see that the latest build is installed or not, in the Accounts section, click on Update Options and then, click on Update Now.

Procedure to Opt Out from Office 365 Preview 2016

A user can leave the insider program by deleting the preview version of Office 2016 and then, installing the present version.

How to Uninstall Office 2016 Insider Builds?

A user has to follow these steps to remove the pre-released version of Office 365 applications:

1. Launch Settings, then click on Apps2. Select the option of Apps & Features3. Choose your Office Installation4. Click on Uninstall button5. Continue the process with the directions given on screen

Once the above set of instructions have been completed, restart your system and perform the steps given in the next section.

After the successful execution of the above steps, you can use the latest version of Office 2016, and no longer receive Office insider builds.

The Observational Verdict

For testing purpose, preview builds of Office 365 are released. This helps the user to have a demo of the latest services upgraded in the Office 365 subscription plans. The write-up explains the step-wise procedure to enroll in Office insider program.